French 101. I think I spent the entire day saying "Tigre" to my daughter. "Say tiiigrree," she would completely ignore me.... "Sweetie, say TIIIGGREE," she would just look past me to see the television. I kept saying it louder too, as if speaking louder is a better teaching method. BUT my constant nagging paid off! By the end of the day, I heard "Tigre"...... and she hasn't said it again since! So today, my morning started with, "Say tiiiiggreee." :)
Anyway, in between harassing my 16-month old with the French language, I also cooked dinner. Kale made another appearance. I think kale will make several more appearances actually. I seem to have purchased a ton of it and now I have to use it all up before it reaches death.
The Menu:
Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Glazed Carrots and Turnips
Rosemary Bruschetta
The Failures:
Pretty much every dish except the bruschetta... hehe :)
The cream cheese chicken was ok, but nothing noteworthy. I usually use garlic when I make this recipe, but yesterday I replaced the garlic with spring onions (I have several to use up). It SOUNDED like a good idea and I'm sure some people would like it, but I'm just not one of them. To make things worse, I wrapped one of the breasts with turkey bacon because it had to be used as well. It sounds good, right? I thought it sounded amazing. It was the yuckiest thing of all.
As for the veggies, I followed this recipe, but I reduced it down to 2 servings.
Glazed Carrots and Turnips Recipe:
Serving Size = 6
Serving Size = 6
- 1 pound baby turnips or regular turnips
- 3/4 pound baby carrots
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1) Steam the turnips, set aside - steam the carrots, set aside.
2) Heat the butter and sugar on medium-low heat and add the veggies. Cook until "glazed" or "shiny."
2) Heat the butter and sugar on medium-low heat and add the veggies. Cook until "glazed" or "shiny."
It wasn't BAD, but it isn't worth making again. I found it a bit boring and, other than calories, I'm not sure what the sugar brought to the dish.
The bruschetta was the star of the show. I have one entire shelf in my fridge dedicated to tomatoes, so tomato recipes will make even more appearances than kale. Normally, bruschetta is made with basil but my basil plants have been finished for a while, so I decided to try rosemary instead (it dries better than basil). Also, I normally bake the bread and then add the toppings, but this time around I fried the bread in a boatload of butter (mmmm... butter).
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| Tomatoes before roasting |
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| Tomatoes after roasting |
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| The delicious bruschetta |
Rosemary Bruschetta Recipe:
Servings Size = 2
Servings Size = 2
- 5 medium-small ripe tomatoes
- 2-3 cloves or garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon or so of rosemary (be careful, rosemary is powerful)
- About 1-2 tablespoons of oil, just eyeball it
- S/P
- Around 1/4 stick of butter, maybe more
- Oil
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- A handful of kale, chopped thinly (arugula or spinach would work as well)
- Parm-reg, to taste
- 2 tablespoons of ricotta
- 2 thick slices (at least 1 or 1 1/2 inches) of (preferably, chewy) bread
1) Start with roasting the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes into small wedges, drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of oil, 1 teaspoon of rosemary, minced garlic and s/p. Let them sit and marinade while the oven pre-heats to 425F. If a lot of juice appears, then drain some of it off.
2) Place the tomatoes in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the skin is blistered a bit. Remove the tomatoes and let them cool.
3) Chop the kale and place into a bowl. Mix with approximately 3 parts lemon, 1 part oil, just enough to coat. Set aside for 20 minutes.
4) Fry the bread in the boatload of butter with a bit of oil. The butter should soak into the bread just a tiny bit, but not enough to make it soggy, just enough to make a golden and crunchy crust. Make sure the butter is very hot before you add the bread. Cook of medium-high. If you use chewy bread, such as French bread, cut it around an inch thick. If you're using a white bread, like I did, then make it a little thicker.
5) Take the bread out and let them cool down a bit, top bread with 1 tablespoon of ricotta each. Layer the tomatoes onto each piece of bread. Next, add some freshly grated parm-reg. And finally, top with the kale mixture.
What's great about this dish is that nothing really needs to be measured. If you're cooking the bread and notice that you're running out of butter, add more. If you make the dressing and think there's too much lemon, add some oil. It's as easy as that! Just make sure you taste along the way. By the way, I used the nasty onion bread and it worked beautifully. :)
2) Place the tomatoes in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the skin is blistered a bit. Remove the tomatoes and let them cool.
3) Chop the kale and place into a bowl. Mix with approximately 3 parts lemon, 1 part oil, just enough to coat. Set aside for 20 minutes.
4) Fry the bread in the boatload of butter with a bit of oil. The butter should soak into the bread just a tiny bit, but not enough to make it soggy, just enough to make a golden and crunchy crust. Make sure the butter is very hot before you add the bread. Cook of medium-high. If you use chewy bread, such as French bread, cut it around an inch thick. If you're using a white bread, like I did, then make it a little thicker.
5) Take the bread out and let them cool down a bit, top bread with 1 tablespoon of ricotta each. Layer the tomatoes onto each piece of bread. Next, add some freshly grated parm-reg. And finally, top with the kale mixture.
What's great about this dish is that nothing really needs to be measured. If you're cooking the bread and notice that you're running out of butter, add more. If you make the dressing and think there's too much lemon, add some oil. It's as easy as that! Just make sure you taste along the way. By the way, I used the nasty onion bread and it worked beautifully. :)
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